ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court of Pakistan Tuesday directed the federation’s counsel to inform about returned references by the accountability courts after the amendments in the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999.
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah conducted hearing of former prime minister Imran Khan’s petition against the amendments in the NAO, 1999.
During the hearing, Makhdoom Ali Khan argued that according to the NAB Cash Manager Account (CMA), which contains the summary of returned references and acquittals in consequence of the amendments, total references returned/transferred since 2019 to-date are 221. Out of that, 29 cases are of politicians, and of the 29 references 8 are of parliamentarians and other accused cases are 1201. He further said that total acquittals from 2019 to to-date are 41. Out of that, 5 cases are of the politicians, and out of the 5 cases, 2 are of parliamentarians and other accused are 183.
He submitted that the appeals against acquittals are pending before the High Courts, adding, this number must be higher as NAB has not provided complete details of other accused for Karachi and Peshawar regions.